John McGahon (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We are getting to the stage of the year when we start receiving pre-budget submissions ahead of the budget in October. I received a very detailed pre-budget submission from Mrs. Deirdre Matthews, general secretary of the Joint Managerial Body, JMB, for voluntary secondary schools. We receive many of these submissions and sometimes we look at them and sometimes we do not. I printed the JMB submission and felt it contained a number of key recommendations that the Department could take on board when we get to the budget process.

One of the JMB's key goals is the provision of high-quality education, which is something we all aspire to. One of its recommendations really struck me, which is: "The pupil teacher ratio for schools in the Free Education sector must be [progressively] restored to 18:1 in order to alleviate the impact of cutbacks and staffing in schools in recent years and to support a [continuing] recovery ... [in learning loss experienced by this generation of students]." That is something I agree with. On sustainable leadership and management in our schools, the submission referenced, as it did in its submission to the Minister, "prioritising [the role] of deputy principal positions across [all] schools of all capacities, should receive serious consideration in respect of staffing allocations" because not every school has the ability to hire a deputy principal. The third goal in the submission relates to investment in the curriculum. The recommendation coming forward is that the JMB believes a comprehensive programme of training and additional resources is required to support boards of management, and that support will oversee the provision of high-quality education and strive to continuously improve the learning experiences of students in our schools. Those are the recommendations the JMB is bringing forward to the Minister for Education, which will be very helpful and useful.

If it is appropriate at some stage in September, or when we come back, we should have statements about what our budget priorities may be as regards certain Departments or issues, It would be very beneficial and useful for this House to take part in that.